The invention relates to a remotely controllable grain sampling device.
Previously, sampling of grain from storage bins often involved the farmer having to climb to an unsafe height so as to obtain a grain sample from the upper levels of grain in a storage bin. The sampler often consisted of a portable probe of some length. The probe was awkward and dangerous to operate on the top of high storage bins.
Previous samplers mounted inside storage bins, in many cases could not withstand the great pressure exerted on them by the rapid removal of grain from the storage bin.
Prior samplers were subject to dirt and small granules entering between moving surfaces causing them to be difficult to operate.
A common present-day agricultural practice is to harvest grain early in the season. Harvested grains are at a higher moisture content than is safe for long-term storage of the grain. Farmers put their grain into a grain storage bin equipped with a motor-driven fan which blows air through the grain in the storage bin causing the grain to dry down to a moisture level that is safe for storage of the grain for extended periods of time.
Typical aeration storage bins have the fan at the lower portion of the storage bin. It is important to the farmer to be aware of the progression of drying as the drying process travels upward from the lower portion of the storage bin to the upper portion thereof. Until the present time, a practical method of determining the condition of grain at various levels in the storage bin was unavailable.